The coronavirus pandemic has obviously brought real motorsport to a halt, but many of Michelin’s driver partners have been keeping their eye in thanks to virtual races like Sebring SuperSaturday, e-Sport MotoGP and Porsche Supercup Virtual Edition.

Initially scheduled for the weekend of June 13-14, this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours has been postponed until mid-September due to the coronavirus outbreak. The 1968 race was also held in September and saw Michelin provide new radial tyres for its partner Alpine.

Sébastien Ogier steered his Michelin LTX Force-equipped Toyota Yaris WRC to victory this weekend to earn his sixth success in Mexico. However, Round 3 of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship was brought to an early close due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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The Lone Star Le Mans (Round 5 of the 2019/2020 FIA World Endurance Championship) at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, was won by the Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance-equipped Rebellion R13 of Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato. Michelin cars also topped the order in LMP2 (N°22 Oreca07-Gibson), LMGTE Pro (N°95 Aston Martin) and LMGTE Am (N°90 Aston Martin).

Toyota Gazoo Racing dominated the last FIA WEC race of the year to collect first and second places in Bahrain with the N°7 (Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez) and N°8 (Buemi/Nakajima/Hartley) Michelin-equipped Toyota TS050 Hybrids. The French tyre firm topped the order in the other three classes, too, with the N°22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson (LMP2), N°95 Aston Martin (LMGTE Pro) and N°57 Porsche (LMGTE Am).

Toyota bags 1st and 2nd places at Silverstone with Michelin

Toyota Gazoo Racing kicked off Season 8 of the FIA World Endurance Championship with a resounding one-two finish at Silverstone. The four-hour race was won by the Michelin-equipped N°7 TS050 Hybrid/Michelin of Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez, ahead of the N°8 sister hybrid prototype (Buemi/Nakajima/Hartley). There was one-two glory, too, for Porsche/Michelin in LMGTE Pro, an all-Michelin podium in LMP2 and a win for Ferrari/Michelin in LMGTE Am.

Toyota took revenge for its disqualification from the Silverstone results in 2018 with an emphatic win at opening round of the 2019/2020 FIA WEC.

After dominating qualifying, which saw Kamui Kobayashi clock a new lap record (1m35.992s), the Japanese prototypes went on to set a fast pace in the four-hour clash itself. In fact, the race lap records were bettered in all four classes in essentially dry conditions that saw the thermometer soar to beyond 30°C, although a brief shower during the first half forced drivers to pit for rain tyres.

Despite matching the Toyotas’ speed early on, the Michelin-equipped Rebellion R13s seemed destined to come third and fourth. But while the Swiss outfit’s N°3 car (Berthon/Derani/Duval) effectively managed to finish on the podium, the N°1 machine was forced to pit with a technical problem with 10 minutes remaining, handing fourth spot to the N°5 Ginetta/Michelin.

The afternoon’s top-five was rounded out by Cool Racing’s N°42 Oreca/Michelin (Lapierre/Borga) which celebrated its WEC debut with victory in LMP2. The splendid scrap for second place was settled on the last lap when Thomas Laurent (N°36 Alpine/Michelin) passed Frits Van Eerd in the class’s pole-winning N°29 Oreca/Michelin. Despite the arrival of a new tyre supplier, Michelin cars monopolised the LMP2 podium.

The French brand’s runners had shone in the same class in Saturday’s European Le Mans Series fixture which was won by the IDEC Sport Oreca07-Nissan (Lafargue/Chatin/Rojas).

In LMGTE Pro, Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin were all involved in the fight for victory which concluded with a one-two finish for the new Michelin-tyred Porsche 911 RSRs, led by the N°91 car of Bruni/Lietz, ahead of Christensen/Estre (N°92). Third was the N°97 Aston Martin/Michelin, while fourth place went to the N°51 Ferrari/Michelin which started from pole position but was handed a drive-through penalty.

Ferrari/Michelin emerged on top in LMGTE Am thanks to the N°83 car of Perrodo/Collard/Nielsen, ahead of the N°98 Aston Martin/Michelin and N°70 MR Racing-run Ferrari/Michelin. The N°56 Project 1 Porsche/Michelin and N°90 Aston Martin/Michelin also played front-running roles for much of the race.

Round 2 of the 2019/2020 FIA WEC will take teams to Japan for the 6 Hours of Fuji on October 6.

The coronavirus pandemic has obviously brought real motorsport to a halt, but many of Michelin’s driver partners have been keeping their eye in thanks to virtual races like Sebring SuperSaturday, e-Sport MotoGP and Porsche Supercup Virtual Edition.

Initially scheduled for the weekend of June 13-14, this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours has been postponed until mid-September due to the coronavirus outbreak. The 1968 race was also held in September and saw Michelin provide new radial tyres for its partner Alpine.

Sébastien Ogier steered his Michelin LTX Force-equipped Toyota Yaris WRC to victory this weekend to earn his sixth success in Mexico. However, Round 3 of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship was brought to an early close due to the coronavirus outbreak.